BARRACUDA FALL 7-3 IN HOME OPENER TO GRAND RAPIDS

Oct 13, 2017

By Aaron Nelson

SAN JOSE, CA - The Grand Rapids Griffins (2-1) returned to SAP Center on Friday for the first time since eliminating the San Jose Barracuda (1-1) from the Western Conference Finals last spring, and jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first 40 minutes and held on in the final frame for a 7-3 win.

The Griffins took early control with a goal from Dominic Turgeon (2) at 18:09 from just a few feet in front of San Jose netminder Troy Grosenick. San Jose struggled to get out of their own end throughout the first period, eventually allowing a second goal by the Griffins' Corey Elkins (1) at the 9:14 mark. Despite knocking a pair of shots off the post and finishing with only a 10-12 disadvantage on shots, San Jose failed to find the back of the net prior to the buzzer.

In the second period, the Griffins continued to dominate offensively, knocking in a third goal just over two minutes into the period off an aggressive attack by forward Turner Elson(2). San Jose stiffened defensively for a time, but couldn't hold during a Power Play initiated by a massive center-ice hit by Dan Renouf on San Jose's Manuel Wiederer. The Barracuda ultimately gave up back-to-back goals by Matt Lorito (9:16) and then Matt Carey (7:30) giving the Griffins a commanding 5-0 lead entering the final period.

San Jose closed the game with their strongest period of play offensively thanks, in part, to a spark provided by a strong performance by defensemen Jacob Middleton in a skirmish with Griffins forward Matt Carey. After giving up a second goal to Turgeon (3) at 15:19, the Barracuda finally put points on the board as Brandon Mashinter (1) jammed home a rebound at 7:55 and Radim Simek (1) netted his first of the year on a three-on-two feed from Adam Helewka. Grand Rapids' Elson (3) put away his second goal of the night at 6:40 before the Barracuda would find the net for the game's final goal, coming from Brandon Bollig (1) with 3:45 remaining.

Jared Coreau (2-0) earned the victory by making 26 saves on 29 shots, while Grosenick (1-1) took the loss after allowing five goals on 21 shots in two periods of work. Antoine Bibeau worked the final 20 minutes and allowed three goals on five shots.